1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to ducting systems and more particularly to a ventilation duct system formed of composite materials.
2. Description of the Related Art
Frequent ventilation duct replacement is required on ships (every 6 months on some ships) due to salt air/water corrosion. Labor intensive construction, massive weight of materials, frequent ship lay-up for repairs, poor air quality/delivery to interior shipboard compartments, heavy loads on distribution equipment, expansion/contraction, and noise are the generations-old problems currently associated with metallic ducting.
Chemical plants, oil refineries and other industrial plants suffer from similar problems relative to corrosion in the ducting systems in these environments. Furthermore, hospital ducting systems are problematic relative to bacterial contamination. All of these systems have the inherent corrosion build-up problem because metal ducting condenses moisture. External installation on the metal ducts further encapsulates this moisture, which further propagates the corrosion problem.
Use of materials other than metals in ducting systems has heretofore been very limited because of the fire hazards involved with such other materials.